Downtown crime up 15% in September — vote in our poll

Downtown crime jumped 15% again in September compared with the same month last year.
There were 45 crimes reported to police last month, according to a 10-category crime gauge used by the Downtown BIZ.
That’s up from 39 in September, 2011.
All told, crime in the downtown is 17% higher this year compared to 2011 and is on track to be the worst crime year in the downtown in four years.
Muggings continue to be the main driver of downtown crime with 21 non-commercial robberies in September. That’s up from 15 muggings for the same month last year.
One third of the muggings occurred in the central park area while eight were in “south Portage,” the area between Broadway and Portage Avenue west of Main Street.

There were also eight commercial break & enters in the downtown last month.
Commercial B&Es are way up compared to last year. So far this year 91 commercial B&Es have been reported to police in the downtown, up from 55 last year for the same period.
Overall across the city, police reported crimes are down 5% compared to last year.

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Tom Brodbeck

Tom Brodbeck has lived in Winnipeg since 1990. He was first hired as the Winnipeg Sun's legislature reporter in 1996 and became the Sun's city columnist in 2001. He spends his free time running a not-for-profit community centre.

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